The deputy head of Russia’s Navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, was killed in a Ukrainian missile attack, the military announced on Thursday.

Gudkov was killed “during combat work in one of the border districts of Kursk region” along with other service members in an attack on a command post, the defense ministry said.

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He was appointed deputy commander in chief of the Navy in March 2025. Gudkov had been in charge of the Navy’s coastal and land forces, including marine units.

Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the far eastern Russian region of Primorye, confirmed that he was killed “while performing his duty as an officer together with his fellow soldiers” on the Telegram app.

“He was a strong-spirited warrior who did not imagine himself anywhere but the navy,” Kozhemyako said. “Having become deputy commander in chief of the navy, he did not stop personally visiting the positions of our marines.”

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He is one of the most senior Russian military leaders to get killed during the war, which includes at least a dozen major and lieutenant generals, according to the Washington Post. In the fall of 2023, Gudkov was awarded the “hero of Russia” medal “for courage, heroism and skillful command of subordinate formations” in combat.

Last August, Ukrainian forces led a major offensive operation capturing and occupying a large chunk of land in Russia’s Kursk region, just over the border. They held that land for about nine months but Russian troops have consistently retaken that territory, and now Ukraine only occupies a tiny piece of what they held at their peak.